Digger: parents' guide
Best for ages 15 and up. Rated R for pervasive language.
A loud, foul-mouthed climate satire for older teens and adults; the R is mostly about language. Tom Cruise plays an oil tycoon whose Arctic drilling sets off a global catastrophe, and the film shows it through news footage of flooded cities, bodies under sheets (including a child's), riots, and threats of nuclear war. One count found close to 110 f-words plus a c-word, and powerful men drink and joke crudely about sex and anatomy; there are also brief spoken references to pedophilia and incest. Near the end a character dies by suicide, and a sick pet cat's ashes are scattered. We suggest 15 for the language and the bleak themes.
What's in it
Violence
ModerateLarge-scale disaster, much of it on news screens: a methane blast kills a rig's crew, floods sweep people away, and dozens of covered corpses appear. A meeting erupts into a brawl where a thrown shoe draws blood, riots burn a city, and bombs are dropped.
Language
StrongPervasive: one detailed count found nearly 110 f-words, 20-plus s-words and a c-word, plus 'd--k,' 't-ts,' 'a--hole,' about 20 misuses of God's and Jesus' names, an anti-Asian slur used once and an outdated term for Indigenous Alaskans.
Sex and nudity
ModerateNo sex scenes. The tycoon strips to his underwear with the top of his backside showing. Crude jokes about penis size, a sex toy and anatomy, innuendo about an unseen woman, and brief verbal references to pedophilia and incest. Couples kiss.
Drinking, drugs and smoking
ModeratePowerful men drink Scotch and vodka throughout and one gets very drunk; liquor is used to wash down medication. The president is portrayed as drug-addled, heroin addiction is joked about, and there is vaping and a nearly lit cigarette.
Scary or intense scenes
ModerateDoomsday imagery more than scares: flooded cities, corpses under sheets including a child's, a giant iceberg bearing down on Europe, nuclear threats, grotesquely lit close-ups, a suicide by drowning, and a sick pet cat's suffering, followed later by its ashes.
Sensitive topics
- Suicide
- Animal death
- Racism
Worth talking about
The film mocks leaders who put profit ahead of people and the planet. Ask your teen who they think bears responsibility for climate damage, and whether satire like this changes minds.
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Checked October 24th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, Plugged In, Wikipedia, bbfc.co.uk, looper.com. The age is our judgment, not an official rating, and every family draws its lines differently: read the notes, not just the number. Spotted something we missed? Tell us. How we rate.